


and they were roommates

by reject_mikeyy



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Gaming RPF, Video Blogging RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, At one point, Bottom Ethan, Chica is an emotional support dog, Come Eating, Cuddling, Dirty Talk, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Heat Is Broken, Intercrural Sex, M/M, Oral Sex, Roommates, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, Sub Ethan If You Squint, Top Tyler, fake relationship turned real, i guess you could say theres a little bit of, only a little, the team lives in a suite and its all fun and games, tiny bit of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 04:59:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13046991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reject_mikeyy/pseuds/reject_mikeyy
Summary: “A psychological study? For couples? How does this help us make money?” Tyler asked, and Ethan smiled.“Why, I’m glad you asked.” He took the paper advertising a paid research opportunity involving monogamous romantic couples back from Tyler. “We fit all the requirements...loosely. We’re both adults, we live together, we’ve been in each other’s lives for at least six months. This is easy money.” He gesticulated with the paper, and Tyler’s eyebrow went up.“I think you’re skipping one of the bullet points there. You know, the one that says we have to be in a monogamous romantic relationship?” Tyler said, and Ethan shrugged.“C’mon, you’re telling me you wouldn’t be willing to get a little touchy in front of some psychologists for money? It’s just me.”





	and they were roommates

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god they were roommates
> 
> \--
> 
> idea I got for a roommates fake dating au from an au list on maddie's tumblr. beta'ed by @soulpunkk i think her username is on here? if not ill fix it later? bless you maddie youre a true american hero.
> 
> title is from one of my favorite vines, you know the one
> 
> prompt: http://lesbianrey.tumblr.com/post/139998890690/looks-like-the-perfect-opportunity-for-the-fake

Ethan was walking through the fifth floor elevator lobby, swinging his lanyard around on the way to his dorm room, when he stopped to scan the bulletin board for any fun activities coming up. His eyes scanned the posters quickly, passing over Drag Queen Bingos and Tie Dye Nights, until they came upon a particular piece of white paper. His eyes widened along with his dastardly grin. He ripped the advertisement down and rushed to his door, jamming the key into the door and running in, listening for signs of life from his suitemates. It was 2pm, so people should be awake, but then again, it was Sunday. 

Mark’s door was closed, and Amy and Kathryn’s was open but neither were home. Ethan strolled into his own room and shook his roommate Tyler awake. 

“Ty...wake up, this is major. Superb money-making opportunity.” He said, and Tyler rolled towards him, his brow furrowed and eyes blinking. 

“What? What happened?” He asked gruffly, and Ethan thrust the paper in his face. He sat up, the blankets pooling around his waist and exposing his chest. He grabbed the paper from Ethan, who heaved himself up on Tyler’s bed and looked at him expectantly. 

“A psychological study? For couples? How does this help us make money?” He asked, and Ethan smiled.

“Why, I’m glad you asked.” He took the paper advertising a paid research opportunity involving monogamous romantic couples back from Tyler. “We fit all the requirements...loosely. We’re both adults, we live together, we’ve been in each other’s lives for at least six months. This is easy money.” He gesticulated with the paper, and Tyler’s eyebrow went up. 

“I think you’re skipping one of the bullet points there. You know, the one that says we have to be in a monogamous romantic relationship?” Tyler said, and Ethan shrugged.

“C’mon, you’re telling me you wouldn’t be willing to get a little touchy in front of some psychologists for money? It’s just me.” He reasoned, reaching out to stroke down Tyler’s leg jokingly. Tyler snorted and then shrugged a little, weighing the options in his head. He made a face that seemed to signify throwing his morals out the window, and shrugged again, looking at Ethan.

“So how do we sign up?” He asked, and Ethan grinned.

\------------------

The first part of the application was online, and required their contact info and basic descriptions of themselves. Ethan returned to Tyler’s bed with his laptop and sat facing his own bed on the other side of the room. Tyler sat up and propped his body up with his arm to watch what Ethan was doing. He followed the link on the paper to the website and started a new application. 

“I’m Tyler, and I love my boyfriend very very much.” Ethan said out loud as he typed, and Tyler read over his shoulder before smacking him lightly. 

“Yeah, that’s totally believable.” He said, rolling his eyes. “Just write my major and my hobbies, shit like that.” He said, and Ethan started the application again. As he watched Ethan type out his major and hobbies, it occurred to him just how much Ethan knew about him. He even remembered Tyler’s love of pottery, and Tyler wasn’t even sure he mentioned that to him. That was so nice of him. He felt his heart swell at the idea of having a friend that observant, and wrote a mental note to do something for Ethan to show how much he cares too. 

Ethan read his bio back to him and Tyler nodded along, feeling it was a good enough representation of himself. He took the laptop from Ethan then, sitting up straighter and starting to type the other boy’s bio. Ethan protested, but Tyler shushed him. 

“I’m Ethan Nestor, I’m 19, and I never fuckin’ learned how to read.” He said out loud, mock-typing. 

“Stop, oh my god, I hate you.” Ethan said, laughing nonetheless. He shook his head at Tyler. Tyler smiled at him and started typing his bio for real.

“Make sure you put in that I have a YouTube channel.” He said, half-joking about the premise of free publicity.

“Already did, babe.” Tyler said, and Ethan smiled at him.

“We’re gonna ace this thing,” He said, tacking on a “honeybear.” afterwards. Tyler guffawed.

“Okay, that’s a hard limit for me. Honeybear is a no-go, can I safeword out on that one?” He asked, and the two laughed together. Ethan cocked his head at Tyler.

“What would you prefer I call you in front of these people, then? Sweetie?” Tyler shrugged. “Do you hate ‘honey’ too, or is it just the ‘honeybear’ combo?” Ethan asked. Tyler made a face at the blue boy. 

“Kind of both.” He said.

“Peaches? Lovebug?” Ethan offered, and Tyler shook his head. 

“Baby?” he tried, and Tyler shrugged once again. 

“Reminds me of Baby Driver.” He said, and Ethan huffed, running out of pet names.

“Or should I just take a page from the books of the girls that come in and out of here and call you Daddy?” He asked sarcastically, and Tyler choked on his spit, coughing a little.

“Not even a little bit.”  
\------------------

They finished the application together and then went out for lunch at the dining hall. They texted the suitemate group chat and asked if anyone else was down to eat, and Kathryn met them at the door to the dining center. They all got their food and sat down at a table. Ethan started to pick fries off of Tyler’s tray, like always, and that reminded Tyler.

“We applied for a job today.” He said to Kathryn conversationally.

“‘We’ did?” She asked, suspicion in her tone.

“No, not ‘we’ all of us. ‘We’ Ethan and I.” He explained, and Ethan nodded along with him. 

“We’re signing up for a research study.” He said, and Kathryn furrowed her eyebrows.

“What kind of research? Don’t take any experimental drugs, do you hear me?” She asked, and Ethan shook his head.

“We’re signing up for a paid study on romantic couples and their interactions.” He said proudly, and Kathryn didn’t look any less confused.

“Was there a development today that I missed? Are you guys…being...together...now?” She asked.

“No! We’re just friends, but the university psych department doesn’t need to know that.” Tyler explained, and Kathryn shrugged.

“You guys are going to get in trouble doing this, I can just smell it.” She said, and Ethan laughed.

“No, that’s just the smell of cold, hard cash.” He said, and high-fived Tyler while Kathryn shook her head at the dumb boys. 

After they were done eating, they all walked back to the dorm and were greeted at the suite door by Mark’s emotional support dog Chica. Tyler bent down to play with her and Ethan couldn’t help but ‘aw’ at how cute the interaction was. His friend was so good with animals. Seeing that Mark was home and awake, Kathryn expressed her doubt of the boys’ plan to him.

“Tyler and Ethan are trying to be gay for pay.” She said, and Ethan rolled his eyes, walking over to his and Tyler’s door and opening it.

“Well, when you put it like that it sounds bad!” He exclaimed on his way into his room, trying to defend his actions. Mark came out of his room with his eyebrows knit together, followed closely behind by Amy. 

“I can indeed confirm that it does sound bad.” She said from behind him, and he nodded along.

“Is there a way you can put it that it doesn’t sound bad? Maybe I’ll be more inclined to back you on this, whatever it is.” He said, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and Tyler stood to explain to him. 

“Ethan and I found a study that is paying money to couples to observe their actions.” He said, and Amy huffed.

“And you two Yoo-Hoo’s decided to apply yourselves instead of telling your actual couple friends?” Amy asked, placing a loving arm around Mark’s shoulders to emphasize her point. 

“I mean, I’m sure you can still apply. May the best couple win.” Tyler said, holding his hands up like the shrugging man kawaii face. 

“Actually,” Ethan called, coming out of his room with his laptop in hand. “They can’t apply. We already filled the position.” He said, smirking. He shut the laptop and made a show of sidling up next to Tyler, leaning against him. Tyler blanched.

“We did??” He asked excitedly. He turned to Ethan and grinned, going to hug him but Ethan held his laptop up in front of him.

“Woah, woah, don’t want to make me drop my computer and lose all the money we get in this study before we see a paycheck.” He said.

“True. Go put it away and we can celebrate.” He said, looking at Mark and Amy to falsely imply some sexual things. Ethan played along, acting like a hot-and-bothered housewife and skipping along to put his laptop back in their bedroom. Tyler turned to Amy and Mark again and laughed a little.

“Well, duty calls. You know how he gets.” He said in a deep, Clark-Kent kind of voice and Mark shook his head incredulously as Tyler ran into the bedroom after Ethan, crying “Wait for me, baby bear…” 

“No...I don’t know how he gets. Thanks for asking.” He said, and Amy laughed, shaking her head.  
\----------------

The first meeting with the psychology group was...interesting to say the least. The day began with Ethan standing in front of his wardrobe, naked, trying to figure out what to wear. Tyler woke up and looked at the boy who was standing, hands on hips and hips cocked to the side, watching his closet as if he were waiting for four children and a lion to walk out of it. His eyes swept over the dorsal plane of his friend, from his messy hair and his broad-but-slim shoulders to his back dimples and his admittedly perky butt. Ethan really did have freckles all over. One quick sweep of Ethan’s strong, lithe legs, and Tyler snapped his eyes back up to Ethan’s head. He couldn’t help it, he was human, okay? He could appreciate a good physique, is all. He voiced his appreciation jokingly.

“Nice bum, where ya’ from?” He asked, his voice coming out raspy from sleep.

“Nantucket, wanna fuck it?” Ethan shot back, shaking his ass at Tyler. The latter boy laughed out loud, and Ethan turned around, smiling at the sound. 

“I’m trying to figure out what to wear today.” He said, and Tyler furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why’s that?” He asked, and Ethan jutted his chin out and narrowed his eyes in an attempt to say, “Really, you forgot?” 

“The meeting. The gay meeting. Today, at noon.” He explained, and Tyler nodded vigorously. 

“Got it, I remember now.” he said, hopping off his bed to stand next to Ethan. “So what’s the problem? Just wear what you normally wear.” He said, and Ethan shrugged.

“I dunno, I just feel like gay guys usually dress better than I do.” He said.

“So you’re saying there aren’t any gay guys that dress like this?” Tyler gestured to his clothes as he talked, pointing down to his flannel pajama pants and his classic gaming t-shirt. Admittedly, they were pajamas, which kind of made his point moot. 

“Unless I’m looking at one and don’t know it.” Ethan said, smirking. Tyler rolled his eyes and reached out to push Ethan lightly.

“Shuddup.” 

“Now, boxers or briefs?” Ethan asked, setting up the question like the final question on a gameshow.

“What does it matter? They’re not gonna make us fuck in the office, so who’s gonna see them?” Ty asked, tacking on a “They’re not gonna make us fuck, are they?” afterwards, just to be sure. Ethan huffed.

“Of course not, but I’ll know. I don’t want my characterization to be messed up because I’m wearing the wrong undies.” He explicated like it was common knowledge, and Tyler rolled his eyes again. He was beginning to fear them falling out of his head from rolling so much. He sighed. 

“At risk of perpetuating stereotypes about boys like you, briefs.” He offered.

“Okay then-wait, what do you mean ‘boys like me?’” Ethan said, haughtily.

“You know,” He said, turning Ethan’s shoulders to face him back towards the mirror and looking over his shoulder into it. “Twinks. Bottoms. Pretty boys.” He clarified, running his fingers over Ethan’s jawline before grabbing his chin between his fingers and shaking it a little.

“I am NOT a bottom.” He said indignantly, and Tyler snorted, pulling away from him.

“Sure, and I am.” He said, and Ethan turned around again to face him.

“You don’t know, you could be!” He argued, and Tyler smiled like he was smiling at a child.

“I can see over your head, and speaking of your head, my biceps are around the same size as it. You bottom.” Ethan huffed at this, and he walked over to open their bedroom door and shout into the suite.

“Am I a bottom or is Tyler?” He asked, receiving several answers in the forms of disgruntled shouting. All of them were votes for Ethan. He gave up, pouting as he closed the door.

“M’not a bottom.” He said.

“Hey! Look on the bright side, there have been tons of great bottoms!” He said, still messing with Ethan. “Kurt from Glee, Blaine from Glee, Louis Tomlinson, Timon from the Lion King!” He listed, and Ethan rolled his eyes.

“Kurt and Blaine were dating, how could they both be bottoms? And Timon is an animal!” He cried, and Tyler laughed, coming over to ruffle Ethan’s hair. “Hey, quit laughing, that makes you Pumbaa.” He said, and Tyler just laughed more.

“I mean, you’re not wrong.” He said, burping and walking out the door. “Briefs.” He called behind himself, and inside the room Ethan shook his head.

When he got back from the bathroom, Ethan was wiggling on some skinny jeans. 

“And you’re telling me what I’m wearing looks gay?” Tyler argued, and Ethan shook his head.

“Just get ready, we have to get going soon.” He said, and Tyler nodded.

“Okay, sweetums.” He said.

\----------------------

They approached the office 20 minutes later with the original paper advertisement in hand, and speaking of hands.

“Should we hold hands? Is that too obvious? Is that overdoing it?” Ethan rambled, and in the meantime Tyler reached down and enveloped Ethan’s smaller hand in his. He led the other boy into the building, checking in at the front desk and turning towards the elevator bay. The two waited in silence while the elevator returned to their floor, opening its doors. The two stepped inside, and when the door closed, Tyler dropped Ethan’s hand. It was just out of necessity, he was getting sweaty, and there was no one watching anyway, but Ethan felt weird about it. He was just getting used to Tyler’s warm hand gently pulling his along. There was something in his chest about it, but he batted it away and swallowed. The elevator arrived on their floor soon after and the two stepped out. Quite a few heterosexual couples and a few other gay ones stood scattered around the landing, waiting for something or other. Ethan’s stomach churned. Of course they were one of few gay couples. Now people would be able to tell for sure. He looked around, sneaking glances at the other couples, and trying to mimic their movements. He tucked himself under Tyler’s arm, and although the other man was surprised, he adjusted his arm around Ethan and didn’t remove it. 

When the leader of the seminar came out to introduce himself and the team, Tyler put his hand on the small of Ethan’s back and began to lead him into the meeting room. Ethan made a small grumble at the assumption that he was submissive to Tyler, having a brief thought about thousands of years of women before him, before blowing it off and following. The meeting went relatively uneventfully, it was just a basic overview of the study, when they had to show up, and what they had to do. They would be focusing on a section of their relationship each meeting, beginning with a discussion on how the couples met. The following week they would discuss their first date, the week after they would discuss how they fell in love, and so on. Ethan was worried about fabricating a story, but being a film major, he figured he could work something out. 

They walked out of the office in a good mood, having a feeling this would be easy. 

\---------------

The next few days passed as usual, quickly and with little homework done. Ethan was napping while Tyler wrote a paper at his desk, when he looked at the clock and realized they had to get going. He walked to Ethan’s bed and placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. He gently shook Ethan awake, referencing to the meeting they had in half an hour. Ethan sat up in his bed, swinging his legs over the side, and stretched, and Tyler couldn’t help but think he looked like a cute little mouse. His legs swung back and forth, and Tyler watched him for a second. He certainly could see why people liked Ethan, the kid definitely had an innocent Lolita-style charm to him. It worried Tyler a little bit, wondering if Ethan had a secret sexy mode that he didn’t know about and would never see. And then it worried him that he kind of wanted to. 

Moving on.

They got to the meeting with a few minutes to spare, and they silently fought over the single chair available to wait in. Tyler offered it to Ethan, who huffed and gestured to the chair in an ‘after you’ motion, offering it to Tyler. Tyler rolled his eyes and sat in the chair, and Ethan beamed thinking he’d won before Tyler grabbed him by the hips and tugged him onto his lap. 

“We’ll share, sourpuss.” He said, and Ethan sat silently blushing on Tyler’s knees. He could feel Tyler’s hot hands on his hips, warming his body. He leaned back against Tyler almost organically, desiring to be closer to his body heat. He basked for a few moments before the research leader came out and directed them all into the discussion room. Before he could stand, Tyler lifted Ethan off his lap and placed him on the ground like something out of an anime. Ethan stiffened in the older man’s arms and blushed at how easily Tyler could manhandle him. Before he could put the idea out of his head, he thought about how Tyler could probably bench press him. He shook his head quickly to get the thought to go away, and stood dizzily for a second. Tyler looked at him curiously, and he nodded at him before turning to walk into the room. 

They sat in the room next to each other during the meeting and Ethan rested his head on Tyler’s shoulder when the meeting became particularly boring. Ty didn’t realize until they broke for a quick snack and Ethan didn’t move that he had fallen asleep. Of course, he was sleeping before they got here, it would make sense that he was still a sleepy bean. He moved his shoulder a little bit so Ethan’s head fell forward onto his chest, and ran a hand over the sleeping boy’s cheek. 

“Eth, you gotta wake up, pal.” He said, and Ethan stirred and woke up, still clouded by sleep. He sat up and yawned, and blinked at the taller boy. He smiled guiltily when he realized he had been sleeping.

“Did I fall asleep? What did I miss?” Ethan asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Nothing, we were just listening to the guy talk about the topic.” Tyler explained quietly to the sleepy boy.

“What’s the topic?” Ethan asked, having missed the opening.

“This week I think we’re talking about love.” Tyler said looking around for the whiteboard.

“Shit, have we come up with a story for that yet?” Ethan asked, and Tyler thought for a second before shrugging and shaking his head. 

“I don’t think so but we can definitely come up with something. Care to practice your improv?” He asked, chuckling, and Ethan made a worried face.

“I dunno if that’s such a good idea…” He said, but Tyler shushed him.

“It’ll be fine, I promise.” He said. As they finished their conversation someone came up behind Ethan and Tyler looked up to see who the cause of the shadow was. One of the other girls in the study had come up to them while the conference room was still pretty empty. She had one of those office-building paper cups in her hands and was sipping water from it. Tyler gave her a bright, yet questioning smile.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked, and Ethan turned to look at her.

“I just wanna say, that like, I was watching you guys during the meeting and you’re so cute. My boyfriend thinks it’s gross that you’re dating each other but I just think it’s the darndest thing! I just want to put you guys in my pocket and carry you around everywhere I go! Pocket gays!” She said, and Tyler and Ethan both laughed nervously, stealing glances at each other and trying not to laugh uncontrollably at the ridiculous things coming out of the girl’s mouth.

“That’s really nice of you to say, um…” Tyler started, and the girl supplemented her name.

“Katie. I’m Katie. My boyfriend is Brick, we sit over there.” She said, pointing to some chairs on the other side of the room that Ethan and Tyler couldn’t care less about. 

“Katie.” Tyler finished. “Nice to meet you.” He said, and Ethan nodded along, afraid he’d lose his composure if he started talking. The girl seemed satisfied enough and walked away, giving them a smile. Ethan slowly turned his rolling chair to look at Tyler and as the girl left the room they both lost it laughing. 

“I can’t believe...she…said that!! ‘Pocket gays!!’ I’m...dying!” Ethan said between wheezes, wiping a tear from his eye. Tyler laughed with him and when it died down, he shook his head.

“Straight people, am I right?” He asked, and Ethan nodded in agreement for a second before blinking a couple times and looking at Tyler.

“We’re straight people, though…” He said, and they both started laughing all over again.  
When the rest of the team came back into the office Ethan was wiping a tear from Tyler’s cheek, giving a giggle every once in awhile. 

The meeting continued and the presenter threw the attention to the table, and had people go around talking about how they fell in love. Ethan was worried about making something up on the spot, and started to wring his hands in his lap while he tried to come up with something believable. The girl next to him finished her story and it came time for Ethan to speak, and suddenly he was choking up like Gabriella on the day of the callback auditions. He couldn’t come up with something. He looked at Tyler, who slid his hand between Ethan’s sweaty ones and smiled at him.

“It’s pretty boring, I’d say.” He started, saving Ethan’s ass. “We met through a friend, freshman year. I went to high school with him, and Ethan met him online, and we all decided to come here, and I guess we all met from there?” He asked rhetorically, looking at Ethan who nodded back furiously. Tyler continued. “We all went out bowling one night, and I was losing, painfully. I’ve never been very good at bowling.” He was telling the truth. Ethan’s breathing got quiet as he listened to Tyler tell these people real story of how they met. He guessed it was the easiest thing to do, to take the truth and work from there. He looked at Ethan and kept smiling. 

“Halfway through the game, I was absolutely tanking, and Ethan had the decency to start losing and let me catch up.” Tyler said, but Ethan knew how he always told this story, and spoke up to deny such a thing.

“I didn’t! I just got unlucky!” He claimed, starting to grin back at Tyler, whose hand was still between his. He rubbed his thumb over Ethan’s and rolled his eyes.

“Sure, and you just magically started to get good again when I started to catch up.” He said, directing his attention outwards toward the group who chuckled at the story. 

“Anyway, luck or no luck, it’s Mark’s turn, we’re sitting back on the bench watching him go, and I look at Ethan and he’s looking up at the ceiling.” Pause for laughter, as always when Tyler tells this story. “I’m like, ‘Hey Ethan, whatcha looking at?’ and he’s like ‘That’s really beautiful, is all.’ He means the mural on the ceiling of the bowling alley. It’s like a night sky, and there’s a bunch of bowling ball shooting stars, super tacky, right?” Pause again to survey the crowd. “So I’m like, ‘Why don’t you just go outside and look at the real stars, bud?’ and he’s like -- get this -- he’s like ‘You’re so right, dude.’ And just gets up and starts to walk outside. So I follow him, obviously, and we both stand outside and just leave Mark there in the bowling alley. I’m not even sure he realized we were gone for like five minutes afterwards.” Tyler’s chuckling now himself. “And then we were sitting out on the steps looking at the sky, but all I could look at was Ethan. And I knew I was gonna be in love with him.” He looked at Ethan while finishing this sentence, and Ethan looked at him as something bloomed in his chest. 

“Really?” He asked, searching Tyler’s eyes. Tyler nodded at him. Then he blinked a couple times and looked out at the crowd. He looked back at Ethan and smiled a wicked smile, one that broke through the romantic fog in Ethan’s head and snapped him back to reality quicker than Eminem. Ethan himself blinked a few times before looking out and surveying their audience, most of whom looked downright adoring at their story. He was safe, but why did he feel unwell?

He thought back to Tyler’s story. He doesn’t usually tell the part about actually going out to watch the stars. Did he really look at Ethan that night? Obviously not, that was just something he added on for the sake of the story, he wouldn’t really say that. Right? It made Ethan feel a little bit tingly at the idea that Tyler was watching him. It was like something straight out of a bad high school movie, it made his hands shake and sweat and his brain was going a mile a minute. He blushed from the bottoms of his feet to the roots of his hair. Would it really be so bad to actually be dating Tyler? 

What?  
Did he actually just ask himself that question? Dating Tyler would require there being a dick in his mouth at some point and he was Not Gay. Duh. The romance he might be able to do, he was a hopeless romantic, easily wooed by something like Tyler showing off for a crowd, but that’s where he drew the line. Puppy love, that’s all it was. 

Had to be. 

He cleared his throat and smiled at Tyler and then back out at the crowd, and the director took control of the situation.

“On that wonderful note, I think we’ll pick up next week. Thanks for coming everybody.” He said, looking out at the group and standing.

As they walked out of the room, the director called a couple back but Ethan and Tyler, desperate to get out of their web of lies, all but sprinted from the room. They stood outside for a minute to collect themselves, and Ethan looked at Tyler, opening his mouth to say something, anything about his performance in there, but before he could, his ears perked up to the couple still inside the meeting room. He pointed back towards the door and Tyler raised his eyebrows in question.

“I think something’s going on in there.” Ethan whispered, and he walked carefully over to the door, pressing his ear against the frosted glass. Tyler followed him, resting his head on top of Ethan’s and doing the same.

“-now, how you thought you could get away with that is beyond me. You’re embarrassing yourselves in front of all these real couples, and frankly, it’s despicable.” The director of the focus group’s voice was recognizable and loud, and somewhat angry. Ethan looked up at Tyler with his eyebrows furrowed, and Tyler mirrored him. 

“The idea that you would pretend to be in a relationship for money is disgraceful to the art of romance, and you are to be removed from this program immediately, and reported to the Dean for fraud.” He said, raising his voice, and Ethan and Tyler leaned back and looked at each other with wide eyes. Both boys were frozen in their places. Apparently they weren’t the only ones to pretend to be dating, and now the hammer was coming down. Before they could run and hide, footsteps boomed toward the door and it slammed open in front of them.

They only had time to scramble a few feet away and they panicked. Ethan looked around for a water fountain or something to occupy them but found nothing, and acted on instinct to do the only thing he thought would work. He stood on his tiptoes and held Tyler’s face in his hands and kissed him. 

Tyler, flabbergasted, stood stock still and had no idea what to do. He panicked inside for a few seconds before Ethan smacked him lightly on the chest and he snapped out of his state of shock. He turned Ethan around and crowded him up against the wall and doubled down, kissing him harder and stronger. Ethan moved both hands to rest on Tyler’s chest and Tyler held Ethan’s head in his large hands. They kissed for a few seconds before Ethan pulled away from Tyler, feigning embarrassment. He hid his face in Tyler’s chest next to his hands, and spoke.

“Doctor, we’re, we’re so sorry. I just get really emotional when he tells the story of how we fell in love. I just love him so much.” He said, channelling his inner 1930’s starlet. The director smiled at them.

“It’s quite alright boys, it’s nice to see that romance isn’t completely dead.” He said, looking back into the room he was leaving before closing the door behind him and walking off with his briefcase in hand. Tyler and Ethan looked at each other as they heard the elevator ding and the director get inside. They both caught their breath and steadied their heartbeats and booked it to the nearest stairwell. They flew down the stairs two at a time and almost ran to the bus stop. Once on the shuttle back to their dorm, Ethan spoke.

“Sorry about that, I, uh, I panicked and couldn’t think of anything else to do.” He explained, and Tyler stared ahead out the window. 

“No it’s, uh, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He said. “I understand.” He tacked on, worried he was insinuating too much with just the first part of his statement. He brought a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. They didn’t say anything after that. 

They made their way back to their room in silence, and Ethan settled on his bed to do some homework while Tyler prepared to go out for a run, a telltale sign of him needing to think about something. It would be giving himself too much credit to think Tyler was having a Gay Crisis™ and he was going on a run to think about that, so he settled on not knowing and not asking. Tyler left with his headphones in, and didn’t come back for a while. Ethan threw himself into writing his essay and only thought a little bit about Tyler.

Meanwhile, the taller boy was pounding his feet against the pavement as he ran in an effort to feel something other than bubbles in his bones. He had headphones in but no music playing, and was running over the afternoon’s events in his head. Ethan had just, kissed him. That isn’t exactly something you can just gloss over. He had come into this expecting a peck or two but Ethan’s tongue swiping at his bottom lip was not exactly something he knew he was getting into when he woke up this morning. He wasn’t sure how it made him feel, he had so much going on in his head at the moment. He stopped running when he got a big rock along the trail, and sat up on it to take a break.

Tyler thought back to the meeting today, the look Ethan gave him when he told their story, and what it could’ve meant. He may have flubbed the part of knowing he would be in love with him, but he did look at Ethan that night. He just sat and studied him for a while, learning the planes of his face. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and fumbled with it while he thought. Talking about Ethan that way, looking at him that way, it didn’t feel like acting. It felt too real for comfort, and Tyler wasn’t sure what it meant. He opened up his phone and sent a quick text to Amy.

“Hey Ames, what’s it like to be in love with someone?” He asked.

“Need some inspiration for your acting?” She asked with a laughing emoji. “It’s like being best friends with someone but more. You wanna be with them all the time, you wanna see them and touch them and laugh at their jokes. That help?” She answered, and he bit his lip.

“Loads. Thanks Amy.” He responded, and put his phone away. Ethan was one of Tyler’s best friends, and ever since this had started he had been noticing that Ethan’s hands fit really well in his, and he had always thought Ethan was funny but this past couple weeks in particular he remembered laughing a lot more. He couldn’t actually be in love with Ethan, could he? He hopped down off the rock and started up his running playlist, the shuffle landing on a song he remembers listening to first with Ethan. He skips to the next one because it was a little slow for his pace, and the next song he remembers playing for Ethan in the car. The next one he listened to on the drive from Chicago to Maine to visit Ethan over the summer. He leaves the song and starts running. 

Ethan was sitting in his bed, stomach clenching more and more by the minute, when he heard the suite door open. He quickly busied himself with his phone to make it look like he wasn’t worried about the end of his friendship with Tyler. Speak of the devil, Tyler opened their bedroom door quietly and came in, placing a plastic bag on his desk.

“Got us takeout.” He said quietly, and Ethan relished in the sentence. He wouldn’t have gotten takeout if he was mad, right? He watched as Tyler milled about the room, setting up their food and sitting on the ground between their two beds. Ethan slid off his mattress to join him, and Tyler handed him a to-go container and some wooden chopsticks. 

They ate on the floor in relative silence, and Tyler cleared his throat. Ethan panicked, worried that this was the start of a conversation that would make him hate Chinese takeout forever. He still couldn’t eat shepherd’s pie because of that one conversation about the birds and the bees that he had with his mom over dinner, and that was years ago. Before he could work himself into a tizzy, Tyler continued.

“I was thinking,” He said, and Ethan gulped.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” He said almost as a reflex, and Ty smiled at him.

“I was thinking,” he repeated. “about what happened today.” He said, and Ethan nodded, trying to keep his face neutral. They’re quiet for a few minutes. 

“I didn’t hate it, you know.” Tyler says out of nowhere, after minutes of trying to talk himself out of saying anything at all. Ethan almost chokes on a bean sprout, and coughs for a few seconds. 

“What?” He asks, almost a whisper in the quiet room.

“You heard.” Tyler says, suddenly very interested in his fried rice.

“I didn’t say I hated it either.” Ethan said, quietly, into his takeout container. Tyler looks up with one eyebrow raised, and just looks at Ethan for a moment. They’re quiet for the rest of dinner. 

\-------------

They don’t necessarily do anything about that knowledge, but they both know it and that’s enough. They go about their lives normally for a few days, and it’s the weekend. Tyler goes out to the library to finish a paper and Ethan is out eating in the dining hall. Ethan comes home first to see it’s unbelievably cold in their room. Curse the cheap dorm room heating system. He throws his backpack on the floor and checks the thermostat to see it stuck on 50 degrees and broken. He throws open his closet door and searches for warm clothes, finding nothing sufficient and settling on stealing one of Tyler’s big sweatshirts. He puts on the sweatshirt and some of his own sweatpants and sits on his bed with his phone, trying to get warm.

Tyler is out writing a paper at the library, and comes home around half an hour later. He walks into the room and immediately notices the temperature.

“What’s up with the arctic freeze?” He asks, and Ethan shrugs from his bed.

“Dunno, was like this when I came in.” He says and Tyler furrows his eyebrows, walking back out of the room to check with their other suitemates. He returns a few minutes later.

“It’s cold in the other rooms too. Wonder if it’s the whole building.” He checks the Facebook page and his suspicions are confirmed. They’re working on the problem, but the heat shouldn’t be back until tomorrow at the earliest.

“Looks like we’re bundling up.” says Ethan, and Tyler nods, looking towards his closet. He hunts around for a few minutes before looking back up at Ethan.

“Is that my sweatshirt?” He asks, and something in his chest blooms a little at Ethan wanting to wear his clothes to keep warm. 

“Yeah, sorry, it’s chilly out.” Ethan said blushing, and Tyler shrugged and played it cool.

“It’s alright, dude.” He said, rubbing his rapidly freezing hands together. Ethan looked at him for a few moments before pulling his phone out of his blanket nest and tapping around. Tyler milled about on his side of the room before settling into his bed, taking out his own laptop and starting to play a game. A few minutes later, Ethan’s phone vibrated and he got out of his bed and put on some shoes, grabbing his keys and heading toward the door.

“Where are you off to?” Tyler asked, and Ethan shrugged, a little smile pulling at his lips. 

“Nowhere. Be back soon.” He said, and left Tyler to his own devices. And by devices I mean his phone and his computer. 

A few minutes later, Ethan came back with a cardboard drink tray with some hot cups in it, and some bags. He placed everything down on his desk, and Tyler got up to investigate the situation. Being taller than Ethan, he walked up behind the smaller boy and put his chin on top of his head. 

“Whatcha doin’?” He asked, and Ethan leaned back into Tyler, relishing in his warmth after just being outside. 

“I Postmates’ed us some warm stuff.” He said, and Tyler pulled back from him to hold him at arm’s length. 

“Really? You’re too sweet.” He said, and smiled at Ethan, who turned around and smiled back at him. He pulled two takeout containers of ramen noodles out of their bags, handing Tyler one and turning back around to also grab him a cup of hot cocoa in a Starbucks cup. Tyler smiled but put both down on the desk, moving to his bed and pulling it across the room with a horrible screech of wood on concrete that would definitely get them a noise complaint later. He walked around it as Ethan watched, pushing his bed until it was flush with the smaller boy’s. He walked back to his ramen and cocoa, picking one up in each hand and hopping up onto the mega-bed he’d just made. Ethan stood looking at him for a second before Tyler shrugged and said like it was obvious,  
“Mega-bed. Duh.” Ethan snorted out a half-laugh and walked over with his own food, sitting with his back against the wall next to Tyler. He threw his blanket over the both of them and they ate in relative silence. Ethan stacked his Starbucks cup inside his ramen container when he was finished, and fiddled with them for a few minutes. He saw that Tyler was also done and he decided to take one for the team and get up to throw away their trash. He made a mad dash for the trash can, the concrete floor freezing on his feet, and he returned to the bed to see Tyler had slumped down into a lying position. He pulled the covers back for Ethan who climbed in in front of him, resting back into his warmth. They were quiet for awhile and Tyler pulled his arm over to wrap around Ethan, snuggling further into the mega-bed and beginning to fall asleep. Ethan, feeling comforted and warm, followed him. 

Ethan woke up with a heavy, warm arm around his waist. He pulled his own hand out from under the covers to brace the cold for a few moments as he ran his hand over Tyler’s arm, following it to rest his hand on top of Tyler’s, putting his fingers between the gaps in the bigger boy’s. He laid there for a moment just breathing in the situation, and then he rolled over to face Tyler. He saw the boy’s eyes flutter, and he closed his own eyes to make like he was sleeping. Tyler stretched a little and then scooted a little closer to Ethan, whispering a morning greeting to him. The smaller boy opened one eye a little to see what he was doing. Butterflies swatting at the walls of his stomach, he shuffled up so his head was level with Tyler’s and waited to see if he would move again. Tyler moved a little closer to him and tangled their legs together, and Ethan took that as a good sign. He opened his eyes the tiniest bit and looked at Tyler’s mouth, and surged forward to press his own mouth to it, sliding his eyes shut again.

Tyler was obviously expecting this, because he pulled his arm from around Ethan to hold at his jaw. They were breathing heavily through their noses out of nervousness, and Tyler was the first to proactively deepen the kiss, to make it more than just a press of lips on lips. He moved his hand around the back of Ethan’s head and twirled a few fingers in his hair. Ethan pulled his hands up from at his sides to rest them on Tyler’s chest, holding his shirt in his hands. He tugged a little at Tyler’s shirt, trying to get him closer, if that was even possible, and Tyler took the hint and rolled a little on top of Ethan. He planted his knees on either side of Ethan’s legs and braced his hands around Ethan’s head. 

Ethan put both of his hands in Tyler’s hair and sighed, arching up into Tyler’s body heat. Tyler rested on his elbows and wrapped his arms around Ethan’s slender frame, sliding one hand down to his ass and splaying the other across his lower back. He cupped Ethan’s ass cheek in one hand and squeezed, and Ethan arched up further into Tyler’s firm body. The friction he was met with caused him to let out a soft sound as his cock started to harden in his joggers. He lifted his hips to meet Tyler’s again, and ground up into Tyler’s crotch. Tyler broke away from Ethan’s mouth and started moving down to lick and suck on Ethan’s neck, taking the hint and grinding down on Ethan’s pelvis as well. He focused on leaving a mark at the juncture between Ethan’s neck and collarbone, and Ethan (although he wouldn’t admit it later) whimpered a little bit at the idea of Tyler marking him up. 

He ran his hands up and down Tyler’s back, feeling his shoulder muscles ripple under his skin as he moved. Tyler bit down particularly hard at Ethan’s neck and Ethan dug his fingernails into Tyler’s shoulders, balling up the bigger boy’s shirt in his fists. Tyler took this as a sign to take his shirt off, and Ethan couldn’t say he was complaining as Tyler rested his hips on Ethan’s causing more friction and leaned back a little to take his shirt off. Ethan admired the view and the pressure on his abdomen as Tyler lifted his arms behind his head to pull his shirt off. As soon as Tyler got the damn thing off and flung it to the floor, Ethan leaned down and sunk his teeth into Tyler’s pec. Tyler moaned out loud at Ethan’s movement and rolled onto his back on the mega-bed, pulling Ethan with him to lay on top of him. 

Ethan’s legs naturally fell to either side of Tyler’s body as he straddled the boy under him. He rolled his hips back once to feel Tyler’s body under him, and felt a little bit of a bulge, not unlike the one he was sporting, against his ass. He sat up to take his own shirt off, and Tyler rubbed circles into his hips while he watched Ethan throw his shirt on the floor to meet his. The two immersed themselves in each other, getting as close as possible and just existing in each other’s space for a little while. Tyler reached his hands around to grab at Ethan’s ass, and Ethan pushed farther into Tyler’s larger body. 

“Fuck, Eth,” Tyler said as Ethan rubbed their hips together, the pressure on his cock just short of being enough. He reached a hand down and let it linger around the waist of Ethan’s sweatpants in a silent question. Ethan answered with a gaudy open-mouthed sound, nodding furiously and grabbing Tyler’s hand, pushing it further under his waistband. Tyler reached into Ethan’s sweats and wrapped a hand around his cock, loosely stroking it a few times before pulling his hand back to Ethan’s chagrin. He raised an eyebrow at the boy’s eagerness and pulled up his palm to lick it. Before he could stick out his tongue, Ethan was already there, grabbing Tyler’s large, warm hand in both of his and turning his palm over. He licked Tyler’s palm, looking down at him with big eyes, and ran his tongue between the older boy’s fingers, sucking his middle finger into his mouth and passing his tongue over the rough pad of Tyler’s finger. Tyler was silent, almost forgetting how to breathe for a few seconds. He watched Ethan stoically and pressed his middle finger down onto the other boy’s tongue. Ethan gave the rest of Tyler’s fingers equal attention as Tyler looked on, breathing heavily through his nose. He finally pulled Tyler’s fingers out of his mouth with a little bit of a popping sound and guided the older boy’s hand back to his sweatpants. Tyler resumed his work jerking Ethan off and Ethan relished in the feeling, sitting up all the way and reaching behind him to steady himself on the mattress. He rocked into Tyler’s fist and then back against his cock, over and over again. 

“God, Ty, please,” Ethan said, not knowing what he was pleading for, but Tyler seemed to know what he needed, flipping the duo over so he was back on top. He shuffled down the bed to get closer to Ethan’s hips and worked his sweatpants off his hips. Ethan’s cock sprang up and nearly hit Tyler in the face, leaking precum onto his tummy. Tyler ducked out of the way and raised an eyebrow in Ethan’s direction, and was answered with a sheepish smile of apology. Of course his heart melted at that smile. He leaned down and experimentally swept up some precum with his tongue, and Ethan trembled under his touch. He bucked his hips up and Tyler swung an arm over Ethan’s waist to keep his hips down as he ghosted his breath over the younger boy’s cock.

“Please, Ty, please, I-” He rambled, not coming to a coherent thought.

“What is it, baby? What do you need me to do?” Tyler asked teasingly, trying to get Ethan to say it. Ethan whined and tried to buck his hips up but Tyler held them down. He trailed a finger of his free hand over Ethan’s cock and the boy whimpered loudly.

“Ahh! Tyler, fuck, please, please suck my cock, god, I need you so bad, please!” Ethan managed, pushing his head back into the pillows and arching his back a little.

“Well, how could I say no, when you’ve asked me so politely?” Tyler said rhetorically, dragging his tongue up Ethan’s cock and pulling the tip into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the tip, not being very practiced in dick-sucking at all, but thinking of what he likes done to him and trying to replicate it. Ethan seemed to be enjoying himself, and was very vocal about his appreciation. 

“Ty, fuck. So good! Please, don’t stop, fuck you’re so good.” Ethan said, letting out little ahh-ahh-ahh’s and winding his hands into Tyler’s hair again. He tugged a little when Tyler ran his tongue along his slit, and Tyler let out a little rumbling groan, which Ethan felt, sending him into a feedback loop tumbling towards the edge. He was getting close, and he warned Tyler as such, tugging on his hair again to pull him off, but Tyler kept going. He used his fingers to reach what he couldn’t fit into his mouth, and slid his hand down to cup Ethan’s balls in his hand. Ethan writhed and moaned, and Tyler eased up on his balls, trailing his fingers down a little further with the intent of providing pressure on Ethan’s hole. Just the idea of Tyler’s fingers near his ass threw Ethan over the edge and he hurdled through his orgasm like a comet, arching his back and his hips, cumming into Tyler’s mouth. The boy pulled off, grimacing but swallowing, the way you do when you take a shot. 

“Man, that does...not taste very good.” He said definitively, and Ethan, blissed out, pulled Tyler in for a cuddle so he was resting his weight on the smaller boy. Ethan used the pressure to ground himself, and after a few seconds, pushed Tyler back a little.

“Can I help you take care of that?” He asked, referring to Tyler’s erection, still prominent in his own sweatpants. 

“God, I thought you’d never ask.” He said, and Ethan laughed a little.

“How do you want me?” He asked, and Tyler shrugged, looking over Ethan, wrecked, lying on their mega-bed. 

“Here is fine. Just let me-” He leaned down and pulled Ethan’s legs open gently. He leaned down again and started mouthing at Ethan’s thighs, sucking quick hickeys into the creamy, albeit sweaty, skin. When they were slick enough for his liking, he held Ethan’s knees in his hands and lightly pushed them away from him, bending them. 

“I’m not-” Ethan started, confused about Tyler’s intentions.

“I know.” Tyler said. “Hold your thighs together.” He said, and Ethan crossed his legs at the calf, throwing both his legs over Tyler’s shoulder. Ty spit into his hand and rubbed his cock, getting it as wet as possible before lining up somewhere around the middle of Ethan’s thighs and pushing his cock through the younger boy’s muscled thighs. He fucked Ethan’s thighs with fervor, quick and unrelenting until Ethan started to talk to him.

“Please Ty, come for me. Are you close? I need you to come for me, give it to me.” He babbled to Tyler, and Ty let out a grunt, holding the smaller boy’s thighs in both of his hands. He dug his blunt fingernails into Ethan’s legs and Ethan spoke again.

“Let me hear you, I want to hear you fall apart.” He said, and Tyler let out what was practically a shout, thrusting faster and more erratically into Ethan’s thighs. Ethan reached down to touch Tyler’s cock as it pushed through his thighs, and Tyler bucked forward more at the touch. Ethan rubbed his thumb over the slit, and Tyler hunched over him.

“C’mon, cum for me, Ty.” Ethan said, and Tyler did. He shook a little and nearly lost his balance as he came onto Ethan’s stomach. Ethan let Tyler come down and then he guided Tyler to lay down next to him, swiping a finger through the cum on his stomach and popping it into his mouth as he reached for a tissue with his other hand.

“I dunno, it’s not that bad.” He said, and if Tyler had anything left in him, he would’ve hardened again at the sight. Ethan stood and discarded the tissue after wiping himself off.

“And you say you’re not a twink.” Tyler said, smirking at Ethan, watching him throw on a pair of briefs and walk to the bathroom.

“Shut up!” Ethan calls from the hallway, laughing nonetheless.

\------------

The two boys went to their study appointment the next day definitely feeling different. They hadn’t totally talked about what happened the night before, but waking up together had a sort of pretense. They walked in kind of separately, and arrived to the room, Ethan sitting in a chair in the waiting room and Tyler standing. The leader of the study came out to get all the couples, and one of the guys started to walk in step with Tyler. 

“You alright, bro? You guys get in a fight or something?” He asked, nodding to Ethan who was standing in front of him.

“What? No, we’re good. Why do you ask?” He said, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I dunno, man, you just seem kind of distant. You’re usually all over each other. It’s kind of obvious.” He said, and Tyler smiled, reassuring the guy that he and Ethan were fine.

He couldn’t help but think though, now that the idea had been planted in his head, maybe Ethan was mad at him. He watched the boy walk into the room silently, and sit down in a chair, not waiting for Tyler to sit next to him. Ouch. Tyler sat by him anyway, but Ethan didn’t acknowledge him. Maybe he was mad at him. 

The meeting began and Tyler found himself struck with a question. He waited for questions and raised his hand. The man called on him, and he asked.

“Not to be rude, haha, but when do we get paid?” He asked, and everybody kind of laughed a little. 

“Glad you asked! You should receive your first paycheck at the end of the day today. On your way out we’ll be handing them out.” He said, and Tyler nodded, but Ethan turned around in his chair and stood, quietly walking out the door. Tyler tried to find his eyes but couldn’t. Figuring he was just going to the bathroom, he paid no mind to the boy’s exit, until he didn’t come back for a few minutes. Tyler began to get worried when he didn’t come back, and the man in charge started to wrap up the meeting. He looked around, standing up and keeping his eyes on the door. Everybody stood and got ready to leave, and Tyler followed them, standing in line to pick up their check and walking out the door. Ethan was nowhere to be found outside, and wasn’t picking up his phone, so Tyler took desperate measures and found him on Find My Friends. He was at home. Tyler practically sprinted home. He walked in the door and took large steps to his room, finding Ethan inside on his bed, having pushed Tyler's back to his side of the room.

“Ethan, what’s wrong? What’s this?” He asked, confused. Ethan looked up at him and glared.

“What’s happening here?” He asked Tyler. He did not look happy.

“What? What are you upset about?” He asked and Ethan bristled. Wrong thing to say.

“I’m not upset about anything. I just guess I misunderstood.” He said, shrugging.

“Misunderstood? Misunderstood what?” Tyler asked, still lost. Ethan seemed to take pity on him and looked at him, deadpan.  
“Is this still just about money to you? Did what happened last night mean nothing? Am I tripping, here?” He asked, getting a little incredulous. Tyler didn’t know what to say. Well, he did, but he couldn’t get the words out.

“Ethan, I-” He said, starting to put the words together. 

“You know what, don’t. I thought something had changed, my mistake. It’s fine.” He said, getting up and walking out, leaving Tyler alone with his upset thoughts. He kicked his bedpost in anger at himself, stubbing his toe and bending down to hold his foot, hitting his head on his bed frame. He yelled out in frustration and pain. Ethan didn’t come back that night. Tyler suspected he slept in Kathryn’s room.

The next day, Ethan came back to the room to see his bed made and something sitting on it. He unwrapped the little box and opened it, finding a little necklace with a star charm on it. He thought of he and Tyler watching the stars together. The door opened behind him and he turned around, finding Tyler standing sheepishly in the doorway. 

“Hey.” Tyler said, and Ethan looked up at him.

“Hey.” He said back. 

“I did think something changed. I felt the change.” Tyler said, and Ethan held the delicate necklace in his hand. Tyler kept talking and he took a step closer to Ethan, who didn’t stop him. “I do want this with you. I want it to be like the other night, all the time. I want this.”

“Ty, I’m sorry I overreacted. I just, I thought I was the only one feeling that way. I love it.” He said, pulling it out of the box and rolling the charm around in his fingers. “You don’t have to buy me things, though.”

“I used the money from my study paycheck to get it.” He said, explaining himself.

“Really?” Ethan said, and he looked up at Tyler. He started giggling. “Very 10 Things I Hate About You. Bravo, Ty.” 

“What’s that?” Tyler asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Ethan balked, bursting into the hallway.

“Tyler’s never seen 10 Things I Hate About You!” He said loudly for the whole suite to hear, and Kathryn audibly gasped before opening her door.

“This calls for a movie night.” She said, and Amy seconded her from inside her room. Mark opened his door and Chica bounded out, obviously excited about all the noise.

“As long as you two don’t go at it again like last night. Dorm room walls aren’t exactly thick, you know.” He said, and Ethan blushed furiously. Tyler followed him out into the hallway and stood behind him. 

“Put it on me?” Ethan asked, handing Tyler the necklace. He turned around and Tyler clasped the necklace around his neck, leaning down to place a kiss on the nape of his neck while he was there. Ethan shivered and turned around, jumping up into Tyler’s arms and kissing him. Noises of playful disgust came from their roommates, and Tyler walked back into their room and closed the door loudly behind them with his foot, throwing a giggling Ethan onto his bed.


End file.
